Birmingham man charged with assault in Mt. Olive shooting

MT. OLIVE, Alabama -- A 38-year-old Birmingham man has been charged with assault after the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office said he shot a man in the leg Tuesday.

The suspect, Billy Swann, confessed to the shooting but said he was acting in self-defense because the man he shot has threatened him in the past, said Chief Deputy Randy Christian.

The shooting happened in Mt. Olive, at the Downs Road home of Swann's girlfriend. The victim, the woman's ex-boyfriend, got into a "verbal altercation ... that escalated into Swann shooting victim in the leg with an SKS assault rifle. The wound was not severe," Christian wrote in an email.

The victim drove himself to the sheriff's office Mt. Olive substation. He was treated by Mt. Olive firefighters and taken to UAB Hospital where he was treated and released.